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White shark caught on camera frighteningly close to paddle boarders off Cape shore
This was the first confirmed sighting of a great white shark off Woods Hole in over two decades.
It was like a scene out of Jaws.
According to multiple news outlets, Margaret Bowles and Maddie Cronin were out paddleboarding off the shore of Woods Hole on July 4, when a peaceful evening turned terrifying.
The Boston Globe reports that Cronin, 18, was snapping photos of Bowles, 19, at around 7:30 p.m. off Stony Beach, when a great white shark moved through the water near them. A picture captured the dorsal fin slicing through the surface of the water.
A video shared with WHDH 7 News Boston shows Bowles’s expression quickly changing from a smile to a look of terror when she spots the fin.
“Oh,” Bowles exclaimed as she jumped further up on her board.
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Cronin, a rising sophomore at the University of Toronto, and Bowles, a rising sophomore at Harvard University, quickly left the area.
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“It took a second to register what happened, but it was a complete surprise,” Bowles told WHDH. “I’ve spent years teaching marine biology here and swimming in the ocean. I certainly never expected a great white shark to wander my way.”
According to Cape and Islands NPR station, the two sent the photo to shark experts for help with identification. Greg Skomal, a shark biologist with the state Division of Marine Fisheries, confirmed it was a great white shark.
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Bowles noted that the last confirmed shark sighting in the area was in 2004, before she was born.
Great white sharks typically patrol the Outer Cape — from Chatham to Provincetown — drawn by cooler waters and an abundant seal population.
Skomal told WCAI that great white sharks are most likely be in Buzzards Bay at the beginning and end of the peak shark season, from August to October. But when they are in the area, they are usually only passing through.
Skomal told WCAI that it is unlikely to run into a great white shark, like these two did.
But if you do, “The best approach is that if you see a shark, don’t panic. The probability of being bitten is very, very low,” he said. “Nonetheless, if you’re concerned about your safety, just move away calmly and avoid interacting with the shark in any way.”
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